Heavy Metal

"Guild Master Husson, do you have a minute? There is an important issue we need to talk about."

"Lorenda? What is it now? Come in."

A grumpy-looking guild master looked up from a pile of paperwork he had to stamp. Most of it revolved around signing off on new adventurers, due to some new rules the guild master had to enforce. The brawny man with the eyepatch sighed, rubbing his temples as Lorenda stepped inside.

"It's about that Irregularity we talked about earlier…"

"This again? Didn't I tell you to deal with it? What could an E-rank monster do alone in the dungeon? Don't tell me that more people have died. Are all the new adventurers just incompetent now?"

The man didn't seem too pleased at the mention of the irregularity again, but Lorenda pressed on, her tone insistent.

"No, sir, it's more than that. It's not just about adventurers disappearing now."

"Then what is it?"

Husson started sighing but managed to hold himself back from shouting at the guild worker. He knew that she was just performing her duties and that at least she thought that this issue was important. The lady didn't relent but moved closer to place the papers on his desk where he could see and read them.

"We have reports of large groups of monsters vanishing, treasure chests appearing less and less, and even traps have been reported missing."

"What? Let me see this."

The guild master was perplexed by this issue. It was one thing when easily replaceable adventurers were getting themselves killed, but another when the dungeon itself was in danger. Without the dungeon around, their business wouldn't be able to function correctly, and the guild master was aware of this. Soon, Husson was going through the report, which stated that the population of the monsters was starting to drop, something that very rarely happened.

"This is rather strange… but what could be causing it?"

Husson's mind raced with possibilities and he tried to remember if similar issues appeared while he was an active adventurer. Monster populations in the dungeon were usually kept in check by adventurers and not the other way around. There was danger in allowing the dungeon to exist without proper management as once it was left alone for too long, it would cause some problems. Not everyone knew this but there was a certain symbiotic relation between the dungeon and the adventurers hunting for treasures within it. Once the balance was broken, it could lead to a disaster.

"It might have something to do with that irregular monster…"

As the guild master paused the woman attempted to bring up that topic again. In his mind, one monster couldn't be responsible for such a drastic change. Monsters like a living armor weren't known for their intelligence or capabilities to do anything other than attack the first thing they saw.

"That again? This report doesn't state anything about it appearing, has it been spotted since the last incident?"

"Well… no but…"

"Then it's probably been killed by someone already."

Husson leaned back in his chair and was unwilling to even entertain that thought. In his mind, the reason had to be different.

"Lorenda, I'll look into this, but don't jump to conclusions. There could be many explanations. Perhaps a higher-ranking party has been clearing out the dungeon while not going through the proper procedures. It's not strange for some of those bastards to farm for specific items in bulk. Here is what we are going to do."

Lorenda nodded, though her concern didn't fade. She knew that whatever the guild master would order wouldn't address the irregularity she was concerned with. However, there was a possibility that she was wrong and that something else was happening within the dungeon. There had been cases in the past where dungeons had been stripped by large adventurer groups. In such situations, the dungeon needed time to restore its lost resources, much like how this dungeon was behaving now.

".We'll close the entrance for a few days and send in one of ours to investigate. We need to find whoever is responsible for this. Check if anyone is selling items in bulk that can only be manufactured from the dungeon's materials…"

"Yes, Guild Master. I understand."

There was not much to interject as the guild leader made the order. The dungeon would be closed for a few days to give the dungeon some time to regain its vitality. As long as adventurers stopped overhunting the monsters, they would respawn as always. Once balance was restored, they would need to check if their guards were sleeping on the job or if someone over-leveled managed to slip inside. This dungeon was meant for beginners and was not meant to be farmed excessively.

*****

Meanwhile, the one responsible for all this chaos was just rummaging through some adventurer belongings. His bronze hands moved quickly through the items that he placed down on the ground to examine. Each one of his victims had various items stashed on them, including something that resembled his inventory system but much more flawed.